Donald Trump broke with a decades-old precedent by refusing to release his tax returns as a presidential candidate in 2016 or since being elected.
Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Donald Trump’s businesses lost a total of more than $1bn from 1985 to 1994, enabling him to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper, which said it obtained printouts from Trump’s official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, found that Trump’s core businesses, including casinos, hotels and apartment buildings, lost $1.17bn over a decade.

Trump posted losses in excess of $250m in both 1990 and 1991, according to the records, which appeared to be more than double any other individual US taxpayer in an annual IRS sampling of high-income earners.

The New York Times report comes amid a fresh battle between Democrats in Congress and the Trump administration over the release of the president’s tax returns.

On Monday, the US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, refused a request by the congressman Richard Neal, the Democratic chairman of the House ways and means committee, for Trump’s tax returns.

Democrats want Trump’s tax data as part of their investigations of possible conflicts of interest posed by his continued ownership of extensive business interests, even as he serves as president.

Responding to the New York Times’ revelations, Charles Harder, a lawyer for the president, said the tax information was “highly inaccurate”.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump broke with a decades-old precedent by refusing to release his tax returns as a presidential candidate in 2016 or since being elected, saying he could not do so while his taxes were being audited.

Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, testified on Capitol Hill earlier this year that he did not believe the president’s taxes were, in fact, under audit. The IRS has also said being under audit does not bar people from making their tax returns public.

Trump, a real estate magnate who turned over the running of his businesses to his sons after his election in 2016, touted his business acumen and negotiating skills on the campaign trail.